unBAILEYvable

If you're anything like me then something you ask yourself ALOT is... "Why. Why. Why am I always broke?" Im a girl who loves to spend and has a hard time saving. Its like money is sand slipping through my hands. As soon as I get paid most of the money is gone by the next day! It seems that there's always a bill lurking around the corner, a ticket that needs paying, or someone's birthday coming up. As soon as I think I'm recovering from paying something off and I think I can rebuild my savings, here comes something else taking money out of my pocketbook. I aspire to be like this man when it comes to thriftiness.

If you're not familiar with the show, Terry Crews plays Julius, Chris Rock's ridiculously thrifty father. Here's some ways you can build your emergency savings, pay off some debt, not live paycheck to paycheck, or just make STACKSSSSS.

​1)Buy cheap or don't buy at all. I struggle with this because I wanna have what everybody else has. I want the Michael Kors watch, Kate Spade bag, 22 inch Brazilian, and new Ivy Park gear. But right now I'm at a stage in my life where I just simply cannot afford it all at one time. I'm not a fan of knock-offs, but I will buy a good quality watch or handbag that's really cute and I feel confident wearing it. Without those little (slightly tacky) initials all over a bag the price is miraculously cut in half! This bag from Target is suuuuuper cute! Gosh, I LOVE a good tassel!

Now the second clause is don't buy at all. Sometimes my friends ask me to go to the mall and I calmly say "nahhhh fam" because I know that I have no self control when it comes to Crabtree Valley Mall. I'll take a trip to the mall and I will convince myself that I cannot live without a midi dress that I didn't know existed 30 minutes prior. I'll tell myself that I won't be the same girl without a fresh tube of Marc Jacobs lipstick. I'll convince myself that I deserve to spent a little money on myself, tell myself that I'm getting paid at the end of the week. Then I end up spending $80 on things I could do without and eating ramen noodles and using my piggybank money for gas money. Soooooooo, I've defaulted to just not going. Some people can't handle the bar, some can't handle the strip club, I can't handle the mall. It's too tempting for a broke girl.

​2) Get a side job. There's plenty you could do. You can babysit, mow lawns, get a part-time job, tutor kids. Take a hobby to the next level. I sometimes style people's hair when I'm low on cash. If you're a good singer or musician you could probably find some good paying gigs.

3) Sell clothes or other unusable items. Some clothes can be hard to part with, but if you really need the money..... Hey it's better than selling your body! Try to gather as many items of clothing as you can. I like to go through my wardrobe and pick out things I haven't worn in over 6 months, things that I bought but never wore, and things that I bought online in the wrong size. Find your nearest Uptown Cheapskate, Plato's Closet, or a local thrift store and sell.

4) Never pass up free meals. Since I'm an undergrad student this is super easy for me. There's always some organization giving out free food or snacks. If there's a meeting on campus there's usually free food as well. Also, some restaurants have free or low priced food from time to time. Ihop recently had .25 cent pancake stacks (basically free). Jimmy John's had $1 sub day, which I enjoyed tremendously. There was a new restaurant, Pieology, that opened in Raleigh recently and they were giving away free pizza, so sometimes you just have to be aware. This kind or thing is difficult look for, but easy to come by.Some businesses, like Starbucks, Honey Baked Ham, and Denny's, offer free food on your b-day. This site has a lot of good food freebies and also keep your eyes peeled and follow restaurants on social media and you're sure to come by some free opportunities. Food is one of my biggest expenses, so when I go home on breaks I raid the refrigerator and pantry. Haha, say what you want about me but I call it being resourceful. Sometimes if I go to the grocery store with my parents while I'm home I'll just start dropping anything I need into the shopping cart and they usually won't object. Always use your resources ;)

​5) Sell your blood. When I was a freshman in college I dated this guy who would sell his blood plasma to take me on dates. It was sweet in a weird way. BTW despite all the effort, it didn't work out. But I think he was getting around $50 per unit, which is pretty good for something that you don't really need. Okay, well you kinda need it, but not all of it. And it's for a good cause!

​Follow some of these tips and you'll be well on your way to countin' bandz!

Long distance relationships require a ton of maintenance. I've been in one real long distance relationship, but it was an epic fail... But that's a story for another time. *ROLLS EYES* With my current boyfriend about to transfer to a different school in a couple of weeks I'm about to be in a long distance relationship again. ​When he first told me he was gonna have to transfer because of some changes with the football program, I was sad but I tried not to think about it. Now that It's getting closer to him leaving I'm trying to be supportive and make sure that our relationship stays strong even though we'll be far, far apart. I love making a good list sooooo I started to compile a list of ways to stay close to my baby. In a long distance relationship you and your boo are literally in two different worlds. So we're going to try to navigate through both worlds for the good of the relationship.​Ways to Keep Your LDR Strong1) Talk. Honestly, Me and my bf do this already. We talk constantly. By constantly i mean, we wake up in the morning and text or call one another, we text sometimes during class or while I'm at work, we FaceTime walking between classes, we snapchat some days, we facetime or talk on the phone pretty much every night before we go to sleep (if we aren't already at one another's apartment.) I think that this constant connection will become even more important to us while we are separated.

2) Think positive thoughts! I've been trying to think as optimistically as possible over the past few weeks. It feels a lot better that thinking about all the things that could go wrong. One thing that is good about LDR in that when you do get to see your sig other you're super excited. Not seeing each other for so long fuels your desire to be with each other, when you do see each other its like falling in love all over again. Dawwww. I remember planning out outfits down to the socks and dreaming about seeing my bf when I was in a long distance relationship. Planning a weekend to spend with him was super exciting. Going on dates was way more fun because we didn't see each other a lot. Being in a LDR brings a little more novelty into your relationship that was not there before.

​3) Surprise visits. If you have a key or can get into your guy's home or apartment it makes it even more exciting for him and for you. Showing up unexpectedly at a time when you know your man is just getting out of class, getting off work, or coming home from a meeting with his favorite meal or tickets to a game or a picnic basket would make most men grin like little boys. I know bringing my bf a chipotle burrito with an Arnold Palmer and a king sized package of resees cups when he's getting out of football practice would make his day.

4) Use your alone time wisely. Interpret that as you see fit.

5) Plan ahead but be flexible. I'm the planner in my relationship. My bf is the kind of person that would just expect me call and say I'm otw. Me, on the other hand, I need to have a full itinerary of the whole trip. I like to know what I'm doing before I do it. By being a practical planner you can guarantee that you won't overlap plans with your bf.

6) Make good use of your time together! Especially if you see each other very rarely. Don't waste time laying around or fighting. Do something fun with each other.

7) Plan for the future. Most people in LDR probably don't want to have that status forever. So make an exit plan with your partner. For example, once I graduate from a masters program both me and my bf will be in a position to chose where we live and hopefully it will be in the same city. We're taking it slow, but I feel like being in a long distance relationship will be the test to see if we're really meant to be together.

​Being in a LDR is a true test of trust and commitment, so if you believe in your love and believe in your relationship then be strong in your convictions and the time will come when your LDR becomes a SDR (short distance relationship.) So in the words of Whitney "Deep inside can't you see? That I believe in you and me."

This is a picture of me from circa September 2013 when I was a freshman in college. It's really funny looking back at this picture, because I really thought I was lookin' fine. Looking at this picture now I kind of wanna burn it to ashes... A few more old pics just for your giggling pleasures.

Hahaha, okay at least you know I know how to laugh at myself. Anyways, back to the afore mentioned picture. I remember this night with such clarity. I had just found out I made the cut for a dance team on campus. Its was a popping Friday night and I went out and drank, danced with my "bffs", dropped my phone in a toilet, and started a new romance in my string of romances. OW-OW!! I really just knew I was allllah that. I thought I was soooo cute! I actually can't believe I ever posted those pictures on social media for people to see. Stupid embarrassing.

​ It's funny how life goes on and shows you things about yourself and about others. Fast forward almost three years later and my, my, myyyy how things change.

Yeah two different people. Okay maybe it's mostly the photo quality... jkjk. But what I realize looking at these pictures is that the changes don't end with the pictures. Its actually not about the looks at all. It's more about the person I've become and am becoming. Steve Maraboli had a good thought about change within a person. “Look around you. Everything changes. Everything on this earth is in a continuous state of evolving, refining, improving, adapting, enhancing…changing. You were not put on this earth to remain stagnant." We're always changing and hopefully changing in a good way. You may not be able to change your past but you can learn from it and become a better person. Everyday you get a new chance.​The girl in those first pictures was naive and impressionable. She had a lot of learning to do. The girl in the second set of pictures still has a lot of learning to do. One of the main differences is that 1st Set of Pictures Girl didn't think she had anything left to learn. She thought that she had made it to the summit. She didn't realize that she had just started the climb. 2nd Set of Pictures Girl knows that she's climbing everyday and she is open to all the lessons that life has to teach her. Learning to be teachable was one of my first important lessons.​I've learned lessons of humility, self-control, and letting go. In another 3-5 years I'll probably look at these pictures from when I was 20 years old and laugh and reflect on the lessons life has taught me, but that's part of the beauty of living. What about you ladies? What have been some major life lessons for you thus far?

Hi Loves!Just to tell you a little about myself, I'm Bailey Renee from Winston Salem, NC. I'm 20 years old and I am currently a student at North Carolina State University majoring in communication. I am a young girl growing into myself. I started this blog for other girls like myself who are young, discovering themselves and their passion for life, and becoming better and wiser each day. You may see posts about makeup, food, fitness, relationships, spirituality, family, school, and all things in between. People learn through trial and error, so I will tell you about all of my trials and every single error. Like I said, I'm discovering who I am and you all are taking the journey with me.

Overview

This is for girls trying to find themselves and have fun along the journey. This is for girls in their 20's. This is for girls who may not know themselves completely, but know that somewhere in them lies an UNBELIEVABLE woman!